


Madamina

by shadowsong26, TigerKat



Series: Serenissima [11]
Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: AU, Arranged Marriage, Baroque Venice AU, Other, Total AU, but NOT the fun kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2015-10-11
Packaged: 2018-04-25 15:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4966459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowsong26/pseuds/shadowsong26, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigerKat/pseuds/TigerKat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lee Adama meets his fiancee for the first time.</p><p>[Arc 1]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Madamina

Lee studied a painting on the wall of Santa Maria degli Innocenti; one of Esther approaching Ahasuerus. The central figure was a young girl in profile wearing a pale pink dress, one hand trailing along an opulent curtain. There were two other young women behind her, handmaidens of some sort, who were dressed much more simply--one in green, one in blue. The pink girl showed a certain hesitance, though not quite fear. She wasn't precisely beautiful, not the way most paintings of Esther were--all gold and light--but she had some of the most compelling eyes he'd ever seen in a painting of the Persian queen.

Upon close examination, however, the painting wasn't the masterwork it appeared from a distance. There was an obvious smudge on the blue girl's dress, and the pattern on the green girl's bodice changed slightly halfway across. Esther's hand seemed a little off as well, in the positioning of the fingers. All of these, then, were the hallmarks of the work of a talented amateur, possibly one of the sisters.

The inner door opened and the convent's Mother Superior came in. "The cardinal was detained, and asked that I chaperone this meeting in his place." She sounded disapproving. Somehow, Lee was not surprised.

The Mother Superior moved to the side of the room to watch them, and Lee finally got a good look at the girl behind her--his fiancee.

She was small, smaller than he had expected. Her hair was a soft brown, caught up in a pearl-studded net. She swept him a curtsey without looking up. "It's a privilege to meet you, Signore."

He bowed over her hand, noticing faint ink-stains and a slight callus on the inside of her index finger. He couldn’t help but compare her to his brother’s wife--he had only met Kara Thrace once before she and Zak eloped, but she was a lioness, fierce and proud, gold and light, despite years of living as a boy. Atia Baltar, in contrast, was more like a bird, small and delicate-boned, with bright eyes that saw much. "And you."

There was a brief, awkward silence after that, which she broke. "I want to thank you, Signore, for agreeing to this meeting. I know it's not...usual."

He smiled at her. "I was glad to," he replied, then searched for something else to say, when another silence stretched on. His attention was drawn back to the Esther painting, and he blinked a little. "Was that you? The model for Esther?"

She looked up, following his gaze to the painting. "Oh. Yes, Signore, it was. Sister Angelica likes to paint, and was kind enough to let me assist with the convent accounts in exchange for sitting for her."

The Mother Superior made a slight disapproving noise, and Lee wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. "It's a good likeness of you," he finally said, knowing the comment was a more than a little pathetic. “Very...very pretty.”

"I'll pass the compliment on to Sister Angelica," she replied softly, looking down at her hands and tracing one of the ink stains. "She'll be glad to hear it."

With that, their conversation--such as it was--stuttered to a halt once more. Lee cast about for something else, anything else, but he had very little reference for how young ladies of her age spent their time. All the questions he could think of that might be appropriate or relevant sounded, at least in his mind, too much like a father asking after his child’s schooling. Not precisely the impression he wanted to give his future wife.

Of course, he wasn’t exactly sure what impression he did want to give, or what she might be expecting from him, or hoping for, or…

Time seemed to stretch, with each reproachful tick from the clock in the corner seeming slower than the last, and still, Lee found nothing to say.

At long last, after nearly five minutes of an increasingly uncomfortable silence under the Mother Superior’s disapproving gaze, Miss Baltar abruptly rose from her seat, one hand gripping her skirt so tight her knuckles were nearly white.

He followed automatically, of course, and opened his mouth to say...something, though he _still_ wasn’t quite sure what.

She spoke first. "I'm sorry to have taken up so much of your time, Signore. Thank you again for indulging my whims." She curtseyed again, and allowed him to bow over her hand again before not-quite-fleeing from the room.

Lee stared after her. He sighed, and inclined his head to the Mother Superior. "Thank you for your time," he said.

She sniffed. "Of course, Signore," she said, then swept out of the room again.

With that, Lee was left alone to consider the painting once more, and imagine the life he would live with the girl he’d just met. Perhaps, with time and familiarity, conversation would become easier. He would have to hope for that.

He turned away from the painting and left the convent parlor, wondering exactly what Miss Atia Baltar had thought of him.


End file.
